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People move in, horses out

Vail Daily EditorialVail CO., Colorado

Obviously, our growth is not horsing around.Soon, very soon, Edwards will lose its equestion center in favor of a new high school.The community gained a first-class cancer treatment center and has now lost its remaining horse pasture. These might be the most symbolic changes there since the Gashouse gained neighbors.Which is more important to you? Your answer will define your thoughts about growth, community values and whether you believe life is getting better in this fair valley – or worse.Perhaps this is an irony. But Edwards will continue to have lots of pasture, once the gravel pit there is done with the scraping and the planting that follows. The terms of the $12 million open space deal just won’t provide for horses on the land. Actually, that’s pretty symbolic, too. The housing tracts – high-end, to be sure – along with Riverwalk and the other shopping centers and schools in the county’s densest population center have delivered a solid suburban vibe to Edwards.Horses are the standard bearers of the country. You know you are there when horses start showing up in pastures. So the “country” or “downvalley” line must be drawn around Wolcott. The “Eagle” Valley recedes from that overreaching “Vail” Valley, a moniker devised in a marketing plan that has worked very, very well.And the new cancer center is symbolic, to at least some, of the metastasis of people on the land not so long ago dominated by pasture.- Don Rogers for the Editorial Board


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